Trump Betrays Important U.S. Allies Yet Again
As a young Army officer serving inside the demilitarized (DMZ) Korea, I was assigned a Korean Army bodyguard/driver/translator. Mr. Kim, a college graduate and speaking pretty fair English, saved my life on more than one occasion and often defused tense situations between my soldiers and the local folk.
He guided my tactical moves regarding the North Korean army and their insurgents. By my side for a year I came to depend on him in every way and he even taught me to cook a mean bowl of ramen.
We called him “mister” out of respect but we never actually knew his South Korean Army rank or his first name.
Since the “end” of the Korean War in the 1950s, the U.S. has maintained an active military presence in South Korea as a deterrent to North Korean aggression. At that time, I was in charge of military defenses for a mile-wide part of the DMZ that lay on the main highway between the democratic South and communist North.
For decades, the U.S. armed and equipped the Republic of Korea (the south) and the two forces train together, serve together, and generally are fully integrated when it comes to defending this vital Asian ally.
Imagine if this ally was not able to defend itself from North Korean invasion but nevertheless our commander-inchief announced that all U.S. troops were pulling out of Korea. While South Korean forces are quite formidable, well-led and expertly trained, the same is not true for our Kurdish allies in northern Syria.
For years the U.S. has used to Kurds to fight on our behalf in northern Syria. The Kurds, motivated by our promise of equipment, protection and autonomy, agreed to wage war with Iranbacked Isis.
All of a sudden, we are leaving our Kurdish allies defenseless. Trump says Isis “is defeated” and so no more equipment, no more protection and no more chance at autonomy.
The Turks have already invaded, killing these Americantrained and armed troops, and will possibly will set free 10,000 Isis fighters held in custody by the Kurds.
Kurds are not Arabs — they have their own culture and language. Most Kurds are Sunni Muslims, which have a thousand-year running conflict with the Shia Muslims. Sunni ideology is an excellent counter to the radical Shia thinking embraced by our true political antagonist, the Iranians.
About 30 million Kurds inhabit mostly mountainous regions making up the eastern third of Turkey, northern Iraq and Syria, and parts of Iran. The Kurds are the fourthlargest ethnic group in the Middle East. Trump’s move to abandon the Kurds betrays this key ally in the Middle East.
A Kurdish faction, called the P.K.K., clearly espouses and carries out terrorist acts. The P.K.K. is a valid enemy of Turkey, but these terrorists do not represent the mindset or conduct of our Kurdish allies who defeated Iranianbacked Isis fighters in Syria.
Without a permanent nation, which we would call Kurdistan, the Turks fear the eastern third of Turkey will unite with the Kurds in Iraq and Syria to form a new country. That is why Turkey feels the need to “protect itself” from potential but the yet-unsubstantiated threat of Kurdish independence.
Kurds and the innocents of northern Syria are now being slaughtered by Turkish forces. This is despite our promise of sovereignty and ignores the sacrifice of an estimated 10,000 Kurdish soldiers who lost their lives in support of the U.S. war with Isis.
Who wins by abandoning our Kurdish allies in northern Syria — the Russians and the Bashar al-Assad regime they support in southern Syria, the Turks should they annex northern Syria and take it for themselves, and Iran and Iranian-backed Isis, whose fighters will re-establish a base of terror and again wage warfare against the U.S. and our allies.
Who are the losers? Of course, our Kurdish allies who face the deaths of possibly thousands. We lose as the good word of the U.S. is now toast. Also, we will have to go it alone next time after Isis reconstitutes its army and terrorist network.
To summarize, the winners are Russia, Isis, Iran, and Turkey. The losers are our Kurdish allies, the word of the U.S, and our safety in general.
So long as Trump is in office the South Koreans, Israelis, Ukrainians, Ethiopians, Kenyans, Central Americans and anyone else to whom the U.S. has committed political stability should be prepared to go it alone. Trump’s decision also guarantees direct U.S. intervention and a brand new war on Isis.
Who are the losers? Of course, our Kurdish allies who face the deaths of possibly thousands. We lose as the good word of the U.S. is now toast. Also, we will have to go it alone next time after Isis reconstitutes its army and terrorist network.
Jonathan Kraut directs a private investigations firm, is the CFO private security firm, is the COO of an Acting Conservatory, a published author, and Democratic Party activist. His column reflects his own views and not necessarily those of The Signal or of other organizations.